Island Vacation

August 7th, 2005

The Island managed a couple of first place finished over the weekend, but the results were still less than impressive. In Australia the film opened with $1.404 million for a close victory while in Hong Kong it earned a disappointing $490,000 over the weekend and $520,000 including previews. It's best market continued to be South Korea with $3.167 million, down 38% from last weekend dropping to second place along the way. On the other hand, no wide openings and a mere 23% drop-off allowed the film to rise to first in New Zealand. Overall the film added $7.64 million to its $24.1 million running tally on the international scene and will opens in several markets this weekend including the U.K., Germany and Spain.

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, the third film in the South Korean trilogy that includes Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy, opened it its native country with an impressive $7,382,034 on 420 screens over the weekend and $8,899,893 since its debut on Thursday. That's marginally better than War of the Worlds's debut a couple of weeks ago. One side note, Oldboy is coming out on DVD on the 23rd of this month and we will have a full review to coincide with its release.

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith dipped just 14% during its fourth weekend in Japan for a $3.4 million weekend and a $51.9 million total. On the all-time charts the film is in a bit of a limbo period, it's still 15th on the international charts with $431.6 million and 13th Worldwide with $808 million, but should climb a few more spots before all is said and done.

Batman Begins ended its international run with a couple of first place finishes contributing to its $3.3 million weekend. In Sweden the film had a comfortable lead with $473,000 on 87 screens, while in Poland the film earned $250,000 on 72 screens. The film is still playing in more than 50 markets and should add to its $156.2 million international total, but it won't match its domestic total by a significant margin.

It has been a while since Robots was mentioned on the International Charts, but this weekend it opened in its last three markets. The film opened in fourth place in Japan with $1.5 million, fourth in South Korea with $1.17 million and $1.43 million since Thursday, and third place in Hong Kong with $253,500 over the weekend and $284,000 including previews. Its weekend haul of $2.64 million lifted its international box office to $117 million, and it still could finish just ahead of its domestic total.

The Wedding Crashers dropped 32% during its third weekend in the U.K. landing at $2.21 million for the weekend and $15.0 million overall while in Sweden the film opened in second place with $355,000 in 30 theatres. It already has $18.6 million internationally, but it's hard to image it will top its domestic total.

Skeleton Key took the unusual step of opening internationally before its domestic debut, but one would be hard pressed to call it a success. In the U.K. the film managed just $1.366 million on 354 screens for sixth place and in Spain it earned just $1.1 million on 259 screens. As low as those figures seem, they are inline with expectations and reinforce predictions on its box office potential domestically.

Stealth opened day-and-date in a handful of markets, mostly in Asia, and while it performed relatively better there than it did stateside, that's still not much. In South Korea the film finished in third place with $1.34 million in 150 theatres or $1.62 million since its debut on Thursday. In Russia the film finished in first place, but with just $750,000 on 250 screen this is more of an indictment of the weakness in the market than a show of strength by the film. On the other hand, the film earned a respectable $440,000 on 20 screens in Taiwan, which was enough to lead the market.

Guess Who debuted in Spain with $1.4 million on 300 screens, which was much higher than I would have expected and helped pushed its international total to $21.4 million.

Monster-In-Law slipped just 34% during its second weekend in Australia adding $1.21 million to its $3.66 million running tally. Internationally it has $39.9 million so far, less than half of what it earned domestically.

Herbie: Fully Loaded opened in fourth place in Brazil with $885,000 on 153 screens, which is about on par with the rest of the film's $20.0 million international run.

Les Poupees Russes, a.k.a., The Russian Dolls had the best week-to-week drop-off in France slipping by just 24% to $683,500 for the weekend and $17,837,534 during its seven week run.

March of the Penguins abated by just 9% in Japan this weekend for a $614,760 weekend and a $2,220,896 total so far.

Sin City fell by 39% to $510,000 in its third weekend in Australia for a $3.6 million running tally there. That's significantly weaker relative to its run domestically, but its overall box office of $48.6 million is well on its way to toping the $74 million it earned domestically.

Shuan of Dead's debut in France was mixed; it finish in seventh place with just $399,139, but it 111 screen count was easily the smallest in the top ten, so its per screen average was respectable. The low-budget ZomRomCom has now earned $16 million internationally, most of which came from its home market of the U.K..

Cursed had one of its better opening last weekend with a sixth place, $397,000 debut in Brazil on 86 screens.

Cinderella slipped 37% during its second weekend of re-release in France to $376,910 for a $1,201,500 running tally.

Racing Stripes stumbled out of the gate in France with just $366,929 on 382 screens for a $35.1 million international box office so far.

Bewitched fell another 44% this weekend to $328,551 for the weekend and $6,845,590 during its run. On the one hand, this is much better than the film managed domestically, (relative to the overall market strength.) On the other hand, Australian native Nicole Kidman should have boosted the film's box office even more.

Boogeyman didn't scare them in South Korea opening in eighth place with $262,764 on 98 screens over the weekend and $317,101 since its debut on Thursday. That pushed its international total to $16.4 million, which is well back of its domestic take.

After opening in fifth place Dark Water fell 64% to $309,000 in the U.K. for a distant seventh place finish.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy opened in second place in Norway with $154,000 on just 21 screens over the weekend and $185,000 including previews. More impressively, its per screen average was easily the best in the market. Add in $113,506 during its eighth week in Germany for a $7,767,894 total there and the film as made $43.2 million with half the world to go.

The Descent dropped by 47% in the U.K. for a $252,000 box office over the weekend and $4.285 million running total.

Son of the Mask added $244,000 this week in Spain, down 69% from its opening week. That gave the film $1.03 million in Spain and $40.5 million internationally.

The Amityville Horror opened in Hong Kong but a low theatre count kept the film from finishing any higher than fifth place with $225,353 in 20 theatres.

A Lot Like Love opened in South Africa with $210,000 on 65 screens, which is a one of the better results in it's $17.8 million international run.

Flight of the Phoenix had the worst week-to-week performance in the top ten in Australia seeing its box office sliced in half to $168,000 for the weekend and $648,009 during its run.

House of Wax lost another r47% during its third weekend in Australia but held steady at eighth place with $149,000 for the weekend and $1,291,224 during its run. That was enough to help push the film's international total past its domestic one, $32.4 million to $32.1 million.

Layer Cake managed an eighth place finish in Australia with $143,000 despite playing on just 44 screens.

Kung Fu Hustle's debut in Brazil was weaker than the studio would have liked at just $136,500 on 42 for a ninth place finish, but it did help it hit $80.3 million internationally and $97.4 million worldwide.

George A. Romero's Land of the Dead lost another 44% during its third weekend in Italy landing in third place with $123,387. It's still very early in the film's run, but so far it has struggled with just $2.1 million.

After starting slow Kicking and Screaming fell fast, very fast in its second weekend in the U.K. plummeting 72% to just $120,000 on 239 screens for a $1.09 million running tally.

Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning held up relatively well in Italy dropping 45% during its second weekend to $118,589 for a $479,190 running tally.

The Upside of Anger dropped by a repeatable 34% to $117,804 for the week and $813,707 during its run.

The Longest Yard came up short in Italy with just $84,764 on 76 screens for a sixth place debut. It's still early in the film's run, but even so $14.0 million internationally is very small compared to its $156 million domestically.

Alone in the Dark did even worse in Italy with just $67,017 on 66 screens for a seventh place opening, however, compared to its domestic run, it's not that far off.

Ice Princess was far from golden in its debut in Germany with just $64,554 on 101 screens.

Raise Your Voice slipped to just $41,721 on 38 screens this week in Mexico for a $182,463 running tally in the market.

Valiant bombed in its debut in Holland with a mere $37,000 on 75 screens. At first I thought this was just the previews, but apparently not. As for how this bode for its domestic opening on the 19th, it just makes the situation more confusing.

Whispering Corridor 4: Voice nearly disappeared from the South Korean box office this weekend evaporating by 94% to just $33,092, however, that was enough to hand onto the top ten bumping its total in the market to $2,920,187.

Are We There Yet? lost 72% of its box office in New Zealand this weekend falling out of the top ten with just $32,000 on 45 screens. That was enough for $420,000 in the market and $15.1 million internationally.

Lords of Dogtown opened in South Africa with just $31,987 on 28 screens, just good enough for 10th place.

Willard just missed the top ten in its debut in Italy with just $18,000 on 53 screens. The film was a big disappointment domestically and was direct-to-DVD in many international markets, and this result explains why.

The Sea Inside opened in limited release in New Zealand with just over $8,000 on 4 screens, which is about on par with the film's domestic debut.